Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

(When I said I would be back at 11 a.m., I hope you understood I was talking about Central time.)

In case you haven’t seen it, Curt Schilling is in the blog zone over at 38 Pitches. Have … to … keep … up … (in case you missed it, the dots should be translated into breathlessness).

I did have a couple of noteworthy conversations over the weekend, one with a big league scout who has been tracking the Red Sox this spring. He said, after getting off a conference call with his front office, the rumor circulating through baseball continues to suggest Boston’s interest in Washington closer Chad Cordero and Texas set-up man Akinori Otsuka. The other was with former Sox infielder Mark Loretta, who said he is enjoying life with the Houston Astros. Loretta will be moved around a bit by the Astros (at least until Craig Biggio gets 70 hits to reach 3,000). He has even played a fair share of shortstop this spring. Loretta says the presence of Roger Clemens in Houston camp is constant, with Clemens routinely wearing an Astros uniform out on to the field to throw batting practice to his son.

A couple interesting stories I wanted to point out:
- Alex Speier’s “Does Drew care?”.
- Sean McAdam’s look at the Red Sox’s adjusting their advance scouting practices.

At the top of the list of questions I wanted to address was this one:
Last year, when the Sox signed Taiwanese infielder Chih-Hsien Chiang, they erred by signing him prematurely. Because of this, the Chiang’s high school was penalized by having to forfeit three tournaments this prior year. I was wondering if you could find out the Sox side of this and if this has affected their reputation in the Far East.

Evidently signing Chiang was a major coup for the Red Sox. From the people I talked to there were a lot of clubs interested in him and he was considered by many in Taiwan as sort of the LeBron James of the Taiwanese baseball system. Again, going by my info, the Red Sox remained within the rules, and the signing of the infielder has done nothing but helped their status in Taiwan. The suspension of the coach was for one tournament for a rule he was unaware of. But to answer the main question, I do know that the Sox are in good shape in Taiwan, thanks to both signing players like Chiang and the organization’s increased presence via clinics in the high schools and junior high schools.

Chiang signed with the Sox in 2006 and got a $350,000 signing bonus. After 33 games with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox (hitting .287 with a home run), the 19-year-old played in nine games in Lowell, notching 10 hits in 36 at-bats (including a homer).

- Chris asked about the viability of a revival of the closer by committee concept. Before I left Fort Myers, I dug around about the organization’s thoughts on this. It was clear, both privately and publicly, that the approach wasn’t going to revisited this season … no matter what! As Chris mentioned, there is some interesting merits to the committee, but after doing some legwork this is what I have come to understand about the biggest pitfalls: 1. Pitchers are human beings who like to know their role in life. This is the biggest fly in the ointment. Over the course of a season, relievers want to understand the general vicinity of when they will be making an appearance. The certainty is for both peace of mind and preparation. 2. You have to have the horses. You could certainly argue that the Red Sox are more prepared in this regard than in ‘03, but for another team to take such a chance I would think the case of characters would have to more resemble the Joel Zumaya/Todd Jones/etc. ensemble.

- J.C. Romero’s name was brought up again as a possible closer candidate. In 6 2/3 innings this spring he has allowed just one earned run while walking two. In an earlier entry I had referenced an adjustment the Red Sox had made regarding Romero’s delivery, having to do with his front leg opening up earlier instead of remaining closed. This, the Sox feel, allows him to throw more downhill and subsequently stay down in the strike zone. The team is also trying to get the lefty to become a bit more fluid and not try to muscle the ball up to the plate as much. (In case you haven’t seen Romero, he definitely would win the bench press competition among the pitching staff.) Coming off a season in which he walked (28) almost as many as he fanned (31) in 48 1/3 innings, it has all been encouraging. But until he shows there is no turning back to his wild ways, a shot at the closer role will have to wait.

- Somebody just asked about the enforcement of the new rules, specifically the new mandate that the time allotment for delivering the ball with nobody on base be 12 seconds after being at 20 in previous seasons. (The penalty is supposed to be a ball called on the pitcher.) Off the top of my head, I have not seen this enforced yet, but I promise to make some calls and get a definitive answer by the end of the day. When we first broached this subject with the Sox pitchers, they were mostly unconcerned. We will see.

- A question was asked regarding if David Murphy has worked out at all at first base. The answer is no. I understand the desire to find spot for Murphy, who has really stepped up his value in the eyes of scouts around the league this spring (currently hitting .294 in 32 spring at-bats). But Murphy is an above-average fielder (considered by many as a viable centerfielder), and they want him remaining focused on that area of the field. In the same question, the struggles of Coco Crisp came up. I would be patient with Coco considering he couldn’t fully hit from both sides until the end of January after routinely swinging the bat from November to February throughout his pro career.

- It was asked how many hits we are getting per day. I can’t count that high.

- A couple of people inquired about the MLB Extra Innings stuff. I’m going to try and get somebody in the organization with a more powerful voice than myself to answer that for you. Be patient and you will get the clarification.

- Three questions that cut to the chase:
1) Who do you think will be named closer at the end of ST?
If there is no trade, Julian Tavarez
2) Who do you think SHOULD be named closer?
If there is no trade and he continues his progression, Joel Pineiro
3) Who will be the closer in June?
If there is no trade, Jonathan Papelbon (with Pineiro possibly continuing to emerge as a regular in the role).

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